When the Jerusalem Cinematheque first opened its doors in April 1975, the opening week's programme featured eight films selected through a critics' poll. To mark the Cinematheque's 50th anniversary, we launched an audience poll two months ago, inviting viewers to choose the greatest films released since the Cinematheque's founding.
More than 500 people took part, selecting their favourites from a list of over 1,000 films.
This August, we will screen the films that ranked in the top ten.
Unfortunately, we are unable to screen Oppenheimer as planned. Instead, we will be screening the next film on the list, Past Lives. We will do our best to present Oppenheimer at a later date.
Here are the top 50 films as chosen by our audience.
Top 10:
Pulp Fiction (1994), dir.: Quentin Tarantino | Parasite (2019), dir.: Bong Joon Ho | Taxi Driver (1976), dir.: Martin Scorsese | La La Land (2016), dir.: Damien Chazelle | Inglourious Basterds (2009), dir.: Quentin Tarantino | Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), dir.: Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert | Oppenheimer (2023), dir.: Christopher Nolan | Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), dir.: Michel Gondry | The Princess Bride (1987), dir.: Rob Reiner | The Dark Knight (2008), dir.: Christopher Nolan | Apocalypse Now (1979), dir.: Francis Ford Coppola
Followed, in descending order, by:
Past Lives (2023), dir.: Celine Song | Fight Club (1999), dir.: David Fincher | Perfect Days (2023), dir.: Wim Wenders | Interstellar (2014), dir.: Christopher Nolan | Mulholland Drive (2001), dir.: David Lynch | Inside Out (2015), dir.: Pete Docter | There Will Be Blood (2007), dir.: Paul Thomas Anderson | One Battle After Another (2025), dir.: Paul Thomas Anderson | The Big Lebowski (1998), dir.: Joel & Ethan Coen | Zero Motivation (2014), dir.: Talya Lavie | Goodfellas (1990), dir.: Martin Scorsese | Anatomy of a Fall (2023), dir.: Justine Triet | Arrival (2016), dir.: Denis Villeneuve | Waltz with Bashir (2008), dir.: Ari Folman | Back to the Future (1985), dir.: Robert Zemeckis | Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979), dir.: Terry Jones | Jojo Rabbit (2019), dir.: Taika Waititi | The Shining (1980), dir.: Stanley Kubrick | The Zone of Interest (2023), dir.: Jonathan Glazer | Little Women (2019), dir.: Greta Gerwig | The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), dir.: Wes Anderson | Spirited Away (2001), dir.: Hayao Miyazaki | The Shawshank Redemption (1994), dir.: Frank Darabont | Annie Hall (1977), dir.: Woody Allen | Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019), dir.: Quentin Tarantino | The Truman Show (1998), dir.: Peter Weir | Forrest Gump (1994), dir.: Robert Zemeckis | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), dir.: Miloš Forman | The Brutalist (2024), dir.: Brady Corbet | Call Me by Your Name (2017), dir.: Luca Guadagnino | Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), dir.: Martin McDonagh | Halfon Hill Doesn't Answer (1976), dir.: Assi Dayan | Django Unchained (2012), dir.: Quentin Tarantino | The Silence of the Lambs (1991), dir.: Jonathan Demme | Cinema Paradiso (1988), dir.: Giuseppe Tornatore | Flow (2024), dir.: Gints Zilbalodis | Anora (2024), dir.: Sean Baker | Princess Mononoke (1997), dir.: Hayao Miyazaki | Reservoir Dogs (1992), dir.: Quentin Tarantino
Thank you to everyone who took part. We hope you enjoy the results—and we'll see you again for the centenary poll.
